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Review: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 OC

by Parm Mann on 21 September 2012, 14:00 4.0

Tags: Gigabyte (TPE:2376), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qabmpv

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Final Thoughts and Rating

HEXUS Verdict:

...if you're leaning toward the Kepler feature set, Gigabyte's GTX 660 OC is a tidy fit for any mid-range gaming PC.

We've seen our fair share of monstrously powerful GPUs in 2012, but Gigabyte's GeForce GTX 660 OC is in many ways our kind of graphics card.

Priced the right side of £200, it offers excellent performance in many of today's latest games, it keeps power consumption down to a more-favourable level, and it runs extremely cool at all times.

Choosing between AMD red and NVIDIA green isn't getting any easier - the Radeon HD 7870 and GeForce GTX 660 are closely matched - but if you're leaning toward the Kepler feature set, Gigabyte's GTX 660 OC is a tidy fit for any mid-range gaming PC. It should have no problem playing the most taxing DX11 titles at a 1080p resolution, though, you may in some cases want to knock down image quality from extreme to high, to maintain a lock at 60 frames per second.

Gigabyte's effectively offering about as much power as the previous-generation GeForce GTX 580 in a package that's smaller, cooler, quieter and more efficient. The fact that it costs £180 should make it hard to argue against it, but that doesn't mean we can't. While the 660 OC is a solid all-rounder, there is room for improvement; considering the size of the diminutive GK106 core, we're half-expecting to see upcoming cards that are smaller in size and even quieter in use.

The Good

Solid 1080p performer
Keeps extremely cool at all times
Can drive up to four displays
Factory overclocked

The Bad

Should be even smaller
Could be made quieter

HEXUS Rating


Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 OC
(GV-N66OC-2GD)

HEXUS Awards


Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 OC
(GV-N66OC-2GD)

HEXUS Where2Buy

The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 OC graphics card is available to purchase from Scan Computers*.

HEXUS Right2Reply

At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.



*UK-based HEXUS community members are eligible for free delivery and priority customer service through the SCAN.care@HEXUS forum.



HEXUS Forums :: 22 Comments

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I have to admit, the more I see of GTX660, the more I'm leaning towards it for the builds I'm doing for a couple of mates this winter. Just need to check whether they play DIRT or not… ;)
TBH,with the new price cuts on HD7870 putting it under 200 quid,has put the sheen off the GTX660 launch.
Well it's fine at DiRT 3, it's just the Showdown version where it falls flat.

I'm surprised Hexus even used Showdown as part of it's review, the results were a foregone conclusion.
CAT-THE-FIFTH
TBH,with the new price cuts on HD7870 putting it under 200 quid,has put the sheen off the GTX660 launch.

Well I have to say this one looks quite tempting once it comes in stock:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-msi-radeon-hd-7870-overclocked-28nm-4800mhz-gddr5-gpu-1050mhz-1280-cores-dl-dvi-i-hdmi-2x-mini-d

But it is a cheaper cooler rather than a Twin Frozr model and they can't get the bundled games in at that price point.
It's certainly competitive, but it's not measurably better across a broad selection of titles.
TBH,neither the HD7870 or GTX660 offer enough of a performance boost for me ATM.I generally want a doubling of performance when I upgrade,and it would mean near GTX670 or HD7970 level going by TPU. Looks like the HD8870 or GTX760 will hit that level,so looks like I will wait another 6 months. Going to see how much hardware Crysis 3 and Metro:Last Light will need! :p